Some terms you may need to understand the passage better.

Use this excerpt to teach students about…

Writing for a picture. Creating a picture for the reader.

Does this excerpt make you want to read the book? What questions do you have? Which family member would you like to meet? Would you want to be friends with this family? What first impression do you have about them? How important was the author’s descriptions of the people and the place?

• Create a picture of words with your family and place, pretend or real.
• Create the picture of the family you see in this excerpt.
• Learn about the real Seminole Indians.
• Finish the story.
• Create your own roadside billboard to get kids to come to your school!

The Virginia Standards of Learning writing tests for elementary, middle and high school require students to make logical inferences using evidence to support their assertions.  Here's a practice sample from the end-of-course writing test that uses contrasting images from The Library of Congress' Prints and Photograph collections. See more practice examples here that pair fiction samples with nonfiction text and, as the website notes, "offer a series of text-dependent questions, vocabulary activities, writing assignments and opportunities for research."

Mary Johnson suggested I upload this and another file.

Mary Johnson suggested I upload this and another file.